How to Obtain Workers’ Compensation Benefits after Getting Hurt on the Job

Informing Employer of Work Injury

To obtain workers’ compensation benefits, an individual with a work injury begins by informing his/her employer of his/ her injury. The injured worker risks losing benefits as time passes after her injury, but reporting injuries as soon as possible minimizes the injured worker’s risk of losing workers’ compensation benefits. By law, an injured worker must report the injury to her employer within 90 days of the injury.

An injury may be reported verbally in person by the worker to the employer, but a company accident report works best because it informs the employer of an injury in formal writing that remains accessible in the future. If an injured worker’s employer does not offer company accident reports, creating his/her own accident report will work just fine for the injured worker.

A good accident report created by an injured worker includes the location, time, and cause of the injury along with a description of the injury itself. Additionally, obtaining a copy of the accident report for him/herself ensures an injured worker’s best opportunity to receive workers’ compensation benefits.

Claiming Workers’ Compensation Benefits

Workers’ compensation benefits remain available for an injured worker to claim for two years after the injury takes place. Effective claims for workers’ compensation benefits use writing rather than oral requests. More specifically, an effective claim includes a certified letter to the employer requesting medical treatment and/or wage loss. Additionally, the workers’ compensation claim should inform the employer to notify the workers’ compensation insurance carrier. Also, the workers’ compensation claim must ask the employer for a claim number.

After a claim for workers’ compensation has been made, workers’ compensation benefits may be obtained at any time- even years after the injury. This allows injured workers to receive the medical care they need regardless of when they were injured as long as they made a claim within two years of their injuries’ onset.

Hiring a Workers’ Compensation Attorney

Following an on the job injury, injured workers may seek help from a workers’ compensation attorney in order to receive the financial and medical compensation they are entitled to. Having a workers’ compensation attorney helps to solve unexpected issues that arise while pursuing benefits. Injured workers who have a knowledgeable workers’ compensation attorney to guide them avoid the risk of losing their benefits and possibly their jobs. An injured worker’s best defense against insurance companies is a workers’ compensation attorney.

If you are looking for a Workers Compensation attorney, you have found the right firm for aggressive representation of your Workers Compensation case.  We specialize in representing injured workers across the entire state of Michigan, with our main office in Sterling Heights Michigan. If you would like to discuss your case, please call us toll free at 844-GOT DENIED ((844) 468-3643), or send us some information in the inquiry box on the Home page, and we will contact you promptly for a free consultation.